4th Generation Audi A8 (D5) to debut this summer

During the Audi Summit in Barcelona, Spain this coming July, the all new Audi A8 (D5) luxury saloon will make a publicity stunt. And according to reports, it will make its second appearance at the Frankfurt Motor Show, in autumn 2017.

Looking more stylish than ever, the 4th generation Audi A8 will have a sharper, more chiseled look, inspired by the Audi Prologue Concept series, which everybody loved because of its elegance. If we are lucky enough, the A8 may even share qualities of the Prologue like the concave windscreen and a simple, minimalist interior, with its technology hidden behind screens. The A8 will be having a slightly larger footprint as well.

The A8 will be having plenty of automatic features like the Traffic Jam Assist (an updated version) - which basically lets the car just glide along with the speed of the other cars, at a maximum speed of 60 kilometers per hour during heavy traffic, without any input from the driver. Luckily for the driver, he or she will not have to dread about having to step on the brake pads every couple of seconds.

Other than that, it will also offer a Park Assist function, which works even the driver is out of the vehicle. How cool! It can simply be controlled like a remote control car via a smartphone app. There are no more excuses for those who suck at parking. The A8 will also have a camera to monitor its driver when on autonomous mode.

Furthermore, this car will be much lighter (and faster) that the older generation, because of Audi’s MLB Evo platform. Now, let us get to the engine. For this model, we’re expecting to have both petrol and diesel units, and soon enough, a hybrid model. But that’s not until after the launch of the A8. So if you can’t wait for the hybrid model, you can then settle for the petrol or diesel units. Reports say that similar to the current line-up, there will be three diesel engines: a 272 horsepower 3.0 liter V6 TDI, a 408 horsepower 4.0 liter V8 TDI, and a 500 horsepower 5.0 liter V10 TDI. Meanwhile, the two petrol engines include a 469 horsepower 4.0 liter petrol V8 and a 565 horsepower 6.3 liter petrol W12. Wow, that was a bit of a mouthful.

The company confirms that the new Audi A8 will be arriving in showrooms by the end of the year, and will most likely be face to face with the 7-Series by BMW, and of course, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupe, both of which will also be released at around the same time in 2017.